The Week UK – 28 December 2024
Summary
Issue 1520-21 of The Week closes 2024 with a 12-page "Faces of 2024" cover story that picks the key political and cultural figures who defined the year, from the Moscow assassination fallout to Labour's housing push. The double issue (28 December 2024) packs the usual 5-column news digest format across UK, Europe and world affairs, with the Opinion section curating the broadsheets' sharpest lines on every major story.
The news briefs cover the Russian general's killing in Moscow and the international reaction across Le Monde, The Economist and The Guardian. Labour's housing targets get the cross-bench treatment — The Telegraph's skepticism set against The Guardian's qualified support. It Wasn't All Bad collects the year's oddball silver linings, including the wasp-control success story and the Martha's Rule medical试点 expansion.
The regular columns — Business, Science & Technology, Obituaries and the crosswords — follow the standard The Week formula. The back page quotes section rounds up the year's best one-liners from politicians, comedians and columnists. Subscriptions and a preview of the 2025 first issue fill the closing pages.
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Content Guide
▸ Cover Story
p.12 · The Faces of 2024
The Week's editors pick the people who drove the year's biggest stories — the Russian assassination fallout, Labour's housing policy architects, the climate activists who forced court rulings. Each face gets a 150-word summary of why they mattered. Skim it for a fast 2024 primer before New Year's Eve conversations.
▸ News / UK
p.4 · News: The main stories
A 2-page spread covering the assassination of a Russian general in Moscow and the Labour government's 1.5-million-home housing target. The Economist argues the killing fits a pattern of escalation; The Guardian questions whether the housing number is deliverable. Use the bullet-point timeline for a quick debrief.
▸ Opinion
p.5 · …and how they were covered
The Week's signature editorial roundup: 15 UK and international papers weighed on each story. The Times takes a hard line on the assassination; the Daily Mirror focuses on the housing crisis human impact. The cross-referencing saves you reading 15 separate leader columns.
▸ Features / Review
p.20 · It Wasn't All Bad
A collection of 2024's genuine good-news stories: the successful control of invasive wasps, a sheepdog that became a social-media star and the Martha's Rule medical alert system expanding to 143 hospitals. Good for a mood reset after the news pages.
p.25 · The Year in Quotes
The funniest and sharpest lines from 2024, pulled from PMQs, chat-show couches and press conferences. One entry — from a junior minister's resignation letter — is likely to be quoted at pub quizzes for months.
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Editor's Take
The Week's year-end double issue does exactly what subscribers expect: distils 12 months of news into a digest that takes under 2 hours to read. The Faces of 2024 cover story is the strongest section — it makes editorial choices rather than just listing events. The cross-referenced opinion roundup remains the magazine's unique value proposition. The weakness is the predictable format: the Business and Science pages feel like they were dropped in from any other week, with no year-end spin. The quotes section is good but shorter than in previous years — only 1.5 pages versus the usual 3. This issue is for the time-pressed reader who wants a 2024 debrief before the New Year, not for someone seeking long-form analysis.
Strengths
• Cross-referenced editorial opinion from 15+ newspapers
• Faces of 2024 editorial selections with bite-sized summaries
• It Wasn't All Bad provides genuine tonal relief
Weaknesses
• Business and Science sections lack year-end treatment
• Quotes section shorter than prior year-end issues
Verdict: Recommended — A competent year-end digest that delivers its format promise but plays it too safe.
